The veracity that the showbiz industry will be incomplete sans the mention of Dolphy remains undisputed. For he’s not only a rib-tickler unmatched but also a personification of a thoroughly good man behind the cameras. All told, the accolades handed to him by award giving bodies and civic sectors, plus the countless bravuras and reaps given to him by people in and out of showbiz have all the more magnified the goodness in him.
However, as Dolphy himself admits his imperfections, that he possesses human frailties. In more than four decades of association with Dolphy, we personally have shaared some untoward incidents with the comedian, attesting to his shortcomings as a person. Nonetheless, he doesn’t pretend a faultless individual. To recount, we became attached due to his closeness to child wonder then Nino Muhlach and the late Fernando Poe Jr., both we served as their pro.
One time, a confidante of Dolphy’s ex Alma Moreno narrated the duo’s son Vandolph who was then about five or six year-old tot threw tantrums. Like flushing Alma’s jewels in the toilet bowl, pushing his yaya who almost fell down the stair. Meant no harm, we wrote that the boy seemed to need guidance counseling or a psychologist. Upon reading that item, Dolphy felt terribly hurt, saying to his friends, “nasaktan ko dahil tsokaran ko si Nap. Kung iba ang sumulat, I won’t be hurt.”
Since then, everytime we bumped into each other Dolphy would avoid us like a plague. A year or so later, Dolphy was filming a movie lined produced by our kin Lita Santos who invited us at the set. She made the move for Dolphy to bury the hatchet, so to speak. On our part, we apologized to him.
Dolphy thus quipped, “nagtampo lang ako. Pero pag kaibigan ay medaling kalimutan yun. I realized too your intention was good.” As he tapped our shoulder, with a wide grin. Throughout our stay in the shooting, we could feel he did forego his ill-feelings to us. What completely erased our uncertainty about Dolphy transpired weeks after that visit. The late producer Emilia Blas phoned us to drop by her office that day. She would start a new Dolphy starrer titled Haw, Haw De Karabaw.
What amazed us was what Mrs. Blas related that Dolphy himself recommended us to her to be the publicist of the said pic. That act indeed proved to all and sundry that Dolphy had no trace of anger at all. Undeniably, we took all the efforts not to displease Dolphy on the promo of his flick. The camaraderie between us existed again.
Until that day when criticisms against Dolphy erupted as an aftermath of his kin being involved in a much ballyhoed delinquencies. News reporters mentioned the fact that several offsprings and grandchildren had been linked in notorious misdoings in the past. They surmised Dolphy didn’t do anything to discipline them or in local parlance kinukunsinti ang mga kadugo. We wrote our personal opinion that Dolphy should do something about it.
Chancing upon him, we sensed a hurt Dolphy as he mouthed these words to us. “Kilala mo naman ako. Di ako kunsintidor. Lahat sila lagi kong pinagangaralan at dinidisiplina. But out of my hectic job I can’t always look at them all the time.”Deeply penetrating was the truth in Dolphy’s added statement on Filipino tradition. “Pag nasangkot o napahamak ang kapamilya mo, sino bang dadamay kundi ang kadugo na higit na makakatulong sa kanila. Ibang tao ba magagawa yun.
This brings to our mind that unlike others, Dolphy has inherent passion to assist the less fortunate people. A co-worker since that he was a plain stage performer named Golay recalled how the rib-tickler would give his last money to someone who badly needed it An admirable trait which Dolphy has shown to the fullest when he turned famous star. Be it a colleague, reporter, lowly workers in showbiz or an unknown person, he would never be a tightwad in helping them financially
No wonder that the late Fernando Poe Jr. held Dolphy in high esteem for like the movie king, their compassion for the luckless people throbbed. Though both FPJ and Dolphy kept their philantrophic acts under wraps. The reason perhaps why Dolphy has sustained his box office stature and being a top drawer on TV for so many years, truly a rib-tickler unmatched.
Recently, another first was tucked on his belt, career-wise. Dolphy made history for winning the best actor award (Father Jejemon) and best supporting actor (Rosario) at the awards night of the Metro Manila Film Festival where sadly he missed, bed-ridden that he was. In a TV interview, Dolphy elicited laughter with his joke, “o yung mga nagmamadali na mamatay ako, huwag naman. Gusto ko pang makapaglingkod at makatulong sa iba.”
May your tribe increase Dolphy though we know comedians may come and go. But you will ever be incomparable by and large.
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